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Thursday, August 18, 2016

Trumps 'Breit' Choice

Now that Donald Trump has picked Steve Bannon, chairman of the
Breitbart News website, to lead his presidential campaign, some history about
the Breitbart organization might reveal the next direction for operation
Trump. The following articles were published by LaughingStockNation in 2012 and
13.

Andrew Breitbart, a
longtime conservative writer, blogger and notorious political provocateur, died
March 1 after collapsing on a Los Angeles sidewalk. He was 43. The cause of
death wasn’t immediately known. Breitbart gained notariety in 2009 when he and associates
distributed an undercover video purporting to show members of ACORN, a liberal
voter registration organization, offering assistance to actors posing as a pimp
and prostitute. An investigation by the California Attorney General’s office
concluded that the video had been selectively edited to show criminal activity
when none existed. Nevertheless, a national conservative outcry forced ACORN to
cease operation. In 2010 Breitbart was responsible for a video broadcast on
cable news that showed Shirley Sherrod, a Department of Agriculture official,
speaking to the NAACP about her work in rural Georgia. Sherrod, who is black,
acknowledged that she was hesitant to help a white farmer get government aid
because of her past experience with racism. But she told the NAACP audience that she eventually recognized that
her feelings were wrong and she successfully helped the man. Breitbart’s video,
however, was edited to leave the impression that racial animosity continued to
affect her work. As a result of the video, Sherrod was abruptly fired. Later,
when it became clear the video was an intentional distortion, Sherrod was
offered her old job back, which she declined. She sued Breitbart for
defamation and the the suit was settled between Sherrod and Breitbart's estate in 2015. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Not So Breit

Breitbart.com, founded by
the late political provocateur and fraud monger Andrew Breitbart, has fallen for a second news hoax in little more
than a month. Breitbart reported as true the made-up story that Chuck Hagel, newly appointed Secretary
of Defense, had accepted money from an organization called Friends
of Hamas. The fake news was floated as a joke by a reporter and some
people took it seriously. Now Breitbart.com, joined
by one other far right website, has distributed a story that says
respected New York Times columnist and Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman has filed for
bankruptcy. In his twice-weekly column in the Times, Krugman often
belittles Republicans for their self-serving fixation with the U.S. budget
deficit. Krugman reminds his readers that under President Obama the deficit has
actually declined. Republicans don’t want to believe
it. Imagine their glee on hearing that Krugman is a fiscal dead beat who
can't even balance the family budget. Turns out the bankruptcy story
is fake. But it proved irresistible to an organization that likes that kind of
news best.